Financial statement questions, answered
fiscal50’s financial statements come straight from your books: the income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and statement of changes in equity. Underneath them sit the general ledger, the trial balance, account activity for one account, and the journal report of every entry. Each report runs on a cash or accrual basis for the period you pick, and any amount opens to the transactions behind it. These questions cover each of those reports.
Financial reports · Account register
- General Ledger
- Trial Balance
- Income Statement
- Balance Sheet
- Cash Flow
- Statement of Changes in Equity
- Account Activity
- Journal Report
Updated
General Ledger
What is the General Ledger?
The complete record of every transaction in your books, organized by account, with debits, credits and running balances.
What is the difference between a ledger and a sub-ledger?
A ledger (control account) groups related accounts. A sub-ledger is a detailed account within it, such as one specific bank account.
What is the Offset Account?
The account on the other side of the entry. For a customer deposit into your bank, the offset account is the customer's account.
What does the Balance column show?
The account's running balance after each transaction.
Trial Balance
Why does the report take a moment to open?
The report is prepared from your books each time you open it or apply a filter. The loading sign shows until it is ready.
The report says This report window has closed. What happened?
To keep your figures safe, a report window closes 30 minutes after the report was last prepared or exported, 8 hours after it was opened, and when you sign out of fiscal50. Reading the report doesn't keep it open — apply a filter or open it again from Reports.
It says Too many reports at once.
A report window prepares up to about 30 reports or files a minute, a few at a time. Wait a minute and try again.
What is the difference between Cash and Accrual?
Accrual counts income and expenses when they are earned or incurred, so unpaid invoices and bills are included. Cash counts them only when money is received or paid.
Income Statement
Why isn't my company's name on the screen?
The name is printed in the Excel and PDF files only; the screen shows the figures.
What is the difference between the Detailed and Summary exports?
Detailed has every line. Summary leaves out the sub-ledger accounts; the totals are the same.
Does exporting change anything in my books?
No. Export only makes a file of the report as you see it.
Balance Sheet
Why must Total Assets equal Total Liabilities & Stockholder's Equity?
Everything the business owns is financed either by what it owes or by the owners, so the two sides always balance. If they ever differ, the report shows a message — contact fiscal50 support.
Where is this year's profit?
In equity: the Net Income line under Retained Earnings is the profit from the start of the financial year to the report date. Earlier years' profit is in Retained Earnings. In a Summary file, and with Collapse all, Net Income is included in the Retained Earnings line.
What do Change $ and Change % show?
The difference between a column and the one before it in time. Green ▲ is up, red ▼ is down, New means there was nothing before.
Why is there no Cash / Accrual switch?
Cash moves the same way whichever method you use. The statement is worked out from the accrual books with the indirect method, so its Net income is the accrual Net Earnings.
Why doesn't my cash change equal my profit?
Profit includes items that don't move cash (depreciation, unpaid invoices and bills), and cash moves for things that aren't profit (buying equipment, loans, owners' money). The cash flow lists each difference.
Which accounts count as cash?
The bank accounts set up in fiscal50 (not the credit cards) and the cash ledgers fiscal50's own cash flow counts as cash, such as petty cash. When no bank account is set up, the cash, checking and savings ledgers count instead.
What does a number in brackets mean here?
Cash going out — for example an increase in receivables, or a purchase of equipment.
Statement of Changes in Equity
Why is the opening balance dated the day before my start date?
It is the balance before anything in the period happened — the closing balance of the day before.
Where does Net income for the period come from?
From the Income Statement's Net Earnings for the same dates and accounting method.
What counts as owner contributions, draws and distributions?
Every change in equity that isn't this period's profit: capital put in, draws or distributions taken, and any other entry to an equity account.
Can I show months side by side?
No — this statement has one period. Run it for each month, or use the Balance Sheet with multiple columns.
Account Activity
Why are some balances in brackets?
Credit balances are shown in brackets and debit balances as they are, so each balance column adds up to zero.
Why do income accounts start at zero?
When the period starts on the first day of the financial year, income and expenses start at zero: earlier years' profit is in Retained Earnings.
Why did my start date change?
The report covers one financial year at most; an earlier start date is moved to the first day of the financial year the end date falls in.
Journal Report
Why does a transaction show its total on the first line?
So you can read the transactions alone with Collapse all, and still see each one's amount.
What does (closing entry) mean?
The line was posted by the year-end closing, which moves the year's income and expenses into equity.
The report says to pick a shorter range.
The period holds more than 20,000 journal lines. Choose a month or a quarter.
Why do Cash and Accrual show different transactions?
Each method has its own journal: on Cash, invoices and bills are posted when they are paid.
Related
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